


Thinkin' Nothing's Wrong

by ceealaina



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2020 [18]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Bad Science Puns, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Light Angst, MIT Era, Meet-Cute, Meet-Ugly, Protective James "Rhodey" Rhodes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24383122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceealaina/pseuds/ceealaina
Summary: Jim Rhodes finally gets to meet his MIT roommate.... As first meetings go, he's had better.Written for the prompts "Roommate, Home, “Are you kidding me?”" for Rhodey Appreciation Week, and for the Tony Stark Bingo.Title: Thinkin' Nothing's WrongCollaborator Name: ceealainaCard Number: 3088Link: AO3Square Filled: T2 - You Can't Trademark ThatShip: IronBrosRating: TeenMajor Tags: Meet Cute, Fluff and Angst, MIT Era, Howard Stark's A+ ParentingSummary: Jim Rhodes finally gets to meet his MIT roommate.... As first meetings go, he's had better.Word Count: 1424
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2020 [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1594795
Comments: 20
Kudos: 158
Collections: Rhodey_apprecationweek2020/05, Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	Thinkin' Nothing's Wrong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feyrelay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feyrelay/gifts).



Jim Rhodes had arrived at MIT move-in day early, checking in as soon as he was able, and through all the chaos of moving in, there had been no sign of his new roommate. He’d almost begun to wonder if maybe there’d been a mix-up and he didn’t have a roommate after all. 

He’d stopped worrying about it when it was time to see his family off, distracted by the tears, and the reiterations of just how proud they were of him, and the reminders to be good and remember that he was representing his family, and reassuring them that he’d call regularly and that he was going to be just fine here. He hadn’t even given his new roommate a second thought until he was heading back to his room and heard a noise inside just as he was about to stick his lock in the key. 

“Right,” he said, gearing himself up to meet whoever was inside. 

It wasn’t that he was nervous, exactly, but he was going to be stuck with this person for the next year. First impressions were probably going to count for a lot. And okay, maybe he was a little nervous that the guy on the other side of the door was going to be some kind of lunatic, and his family had already left without him.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door, eyes immediately tracking out the form of his roommate. He was standing up on the bare mattress of the bed that Jim hadn’t claimed, hanging an enormous poster of Richard Feynman on the wall, but at the sound of the door he turned to face him. There was a hopeful, eager little smile on his face, just a little bit of nerves filtering through, and he opened his mouth to say something -- probably hello, like a normal person -- but Jim had to open his own big mouth first. “Are you kidding me?” he burst out, because, well, there was no way around it. His roommate looked about twelve. 

For a long moment the words hung in the air, loud in the silence of the room, and instantly Jim wished he could take them back. That hopeful smile faded just like that, and for a moment his new roommate looked so sad that Jim felt like the biggest dick on the planet. 

“Shit man,” Jim rambled all in a rush as the kid turned back to the wall, busying himself with getting his poster straight. “I’m sorry. It’s just been a long day. My mouth works faster than my brain sometimes. I didn’t mean it like that.” 

“No, it’s okay.” He glanced over his shoulder at Jim again, and there was another smile but this one was tight and forced, doing a terrible job of hiding how hurt he really felt. “I get it. Nobody wants a kid as their roommate, when they’re trying to have fun and do the whole college thing. I figured this would happen. I wouldn’t want me for a roommate either, but you know... My dad says if I come home before I’ve got my degree I’m on my own. I gotta legacy to live up to, so you’re kinda stuck with me for now. Sorry.” 

He said it so casually, like that was a totally normal thing for a father to say to  _ a child _ , and Jim felt his stomach plummet. He felt like even more of a dick as he realized that there was no sign of the father in question, or any other family at all. All his stuff was lumped together in a sad little pile in the corner, being unpacked piece by piece, like they’d just dumped him there and taken off. He thought of his own family, driving him crazy as they ‘helped’ him unpack every single thing that he’d brought along, and felt a brief jolt of homesickness go through him -- along with a wave of overprotectiveness, and the urge to hug this kid and then punch his dad. 

“Hey, can we start over?” Jim asked. “Seriously. I was an asshole, no two ways about it. Please don’t let that ruin your opinion of me. We’re gonna have a great year, I know it. Please?” 

His roommate turned around fully, rolling his eyes a little, but his smile was soft and pleased again. “Alright, fine,” he said, with irritated pout that Jim wasn’t buying at all.

“Great!” Jim positively beamed at him and then held out his hand. “My name is Jim Rhodes, I’m from South Philly and I’m here on an ROTC scholarship. And before you start making Navy jokes,” he added, because his roommate looked the type -- and judging by the slightly guilty smile he got, Jim hadn’t been wrong. “I’m Air Force all the way, baby. Gonna be a pilot.” 

“I’d like to learn to fly,” the kid offered, taking Jim’s hand and surprising him with the force of his handshake. “I’m Tony. Stark.” 

Jim bit back a curse. He’d heard the Stark heir was going to MIT this year, but he’d never in a million years guessed that he’d be  _ his _ roommate. Tony’s comments about his family legacy suddenly made a lot more sense. But then he thought of the nervous edge to Tony’s smile, his comments about not being able to go home without a degree. The way his family had just left him here, alone. For a brief moment, he wondered why, with all that money they hadn’t at least hired movers, or staff, or whatever rich people used to help Tony move in, if they weren’t gonna do it themselves. But then, maybe they’d just wanted to put their appearances in without having something to stay for, or sign off on, like their own kid was just another company asset, something that made them look good, but they didn’t want to be bothered with. 

Tony was looking just a little resigned now, like he was expecting things to change now that Jim knew who he really was, and Jim refused to let his smile falter. “Anyone ever call you Tones?” he asked instead of the multitude of other things that came to mind, pretending there was nothing at all special about his name. 

Judging by the wry smile Tony gave him, he hadn’t been  _ entirely _ successful, but Tony just played along, looking more and more pleased. “No? That’s like asking if anyone ever called you Rhodey.”

“Oh, I like it!” Jim declared. “Swapping the ends of our names. Tones and Rhodey instead of Rhodes and Tony. It’ll be like… Secret code nicknames.” 

Tony rolled his eyes. “I’m fifteen, not five. I’m not an actual baby, I promise.” 

Jim just shrugged. “Whatever you say,  _ Tones _ . But I like ‘em, and I’m keeping ‘em. We could trademark them!” 

Tony snorted, but he was beaming now, eyes sparkling. “You can’t trademark that! They’re nicknames.”

“Pretty sure you’re wrong about that,” Rhodey insisted, like he had any idea what he was talking about. “You can totally trademark a name.”

“Legally, sure.” Tony acknowledged. “But it’s a fucking stupid thing to trademark.”

“Is it though? I happen to think it’s very smart. This way nobody can make money off our friendship. Like with licensing, you know?” He gave Tony a wink. “You deserve something capitalism can never touch.” 

“Friendship?” Tony repeated, and he was clearly going for dry, but Rhodey didn’t miss the very slight catch in his voice, the way he had looked almost startled at the word. “You met me five minutes ago.” 

Rhodey resisted the urge to wrap him in a tight hug, giving him an imperious shrug instead. “When you know, you know,” he informed him loftily, before gesturing to Tony’s poster. “That Richard Feynman?” 

“Oh.” Tony made a frankly adorable noise that could almost be classified as a giggle before he cleared his throat, cheeks flushing a little. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.” 

Rhodey tilted his head a little. “Am I missing something here? Is it some physics major joke that I’m not getting?” 

“Oh no, it’s not that… I just figure when people ask, I can tell them it’s Dick Fine-Man.” 

Rhodey couldn’t have stopped his laughter if he tried, noting as he did how Tony looked even more pleased. Still chuckling to himself, he moved over to the pile of Tony’s stuff, grabbing his sheets and starting to make the bed without bothering to ask if he wanted the help. 

“Tones?”

“Yes,  _ Rhodey _ ?” 

“You and I are gonna get along just fine.”


End file.
